A typical prior art assembly for mounting a condenser to the vehicle radiator includes a pair of vertically extending strip brackets, one bracket extending along each end of the condenser between the radiator end tanks and condenser end tanks. Each bracket includes upper and lower mounting holes through which fasteners, such as screws, are inserted to attach the bracket to the condenser. Wing tabs are located near the upper and lower edges of the brackets. These tabs are fastened to corresponding bosses located on the radiator end tanks, thus securing the condenser to the radiator.
On the assembly line, the actual installation process for the condenser is achieved by first fastening the bracket to the end tanks of the condenser. Then the condenser, with the attached strip brackets, is positioned upright and adjacent to the radiator in a manner such that holes extending through the wing tabs at the upper and lower corners of the condenser align with receiving holes in the radiator bosses. Fasteners are then loosely inserted into the two upper corner fastening locations, whereby the condenser is initially retained in its appropriate position in juxtaposition to the radiator. Installation of the condenser is completed by inserting and tightening the remaining two lower corner fasteners; and then tightening the two upper corner fasteners.
While this assembly has provided an adequate condenser mounting in the past, there is a distinct disadvantage. That is, this arrangement requires fasteners through the wing tabs at both the upper and lower mounting corners. Because of this requirement, an excessive amount of time is required in the installation process, due to the tedious alignment and positioning of the condenser. There is also extra time required to insert, and loosely secure the upper corner fasteners; then insert and tighten the lower corner fasteners and later tighten the upper corner fasteners. Usually two people are required to carry out this procedure of positioning and securing the condenser.
An additional disadvantage to this prior art assembly is the restrictive limitations of the component parts. The prior art assembly provides no significant means of adjustment to accommodate for relatively large dimensional variations. This is of particular concern as any variations in the fabrication of the individual component parts can be cumulative. If the resulting disparity in the fabrication is of such an extent that the mounting holes of the strip brackets can not be aligned with the receiving holes of the radiator bosses, then either the bracket or radiator must be matched with other system components or reworked.